EU calls for coronavirus investigation to focus on animal-to-human transmission
- Josep Borrell had previously said bloc would push for inquiry into ‘origins of pandemic’ but World Health Assembly resolution concentrates on how it entered human population in first place
- Bloc also pushes for evaluation of World Health Organisation’s performance and calls for better pandemic prevention measures
The European Union has called for an investigation into how the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was transmitted from animals to humans.
A resolution, tabled by the EU and backed by 55 countries, also called for an evaluation of the World Health Organisation’s performance and for plans to improve global pandemic prevention.
Previously EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had said the bloc would push for a “scientific and independent inquiry” into the “origins of the pandemic”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had urged China to cooperate with the probe, saying the world has lessons to learn and should establish an early-warning system.
All EU member states backed the draft resolution; as did Britain, Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Japan and South Korea – but the US and China are not among the signatories.
The World Health Assembly resolution said the UN health agency should work with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to identify the “zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts” through “scientific and collaborative field missions”.
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“Such work will enable targeted interventions and a research agenda to reduce the risk of similar events as well as to provide guidance on how to prevent Sars-CoV-2 infection in animals and humans and prevent the establishment of new zoonotic reservoirs, as well as to reduce further risks of emergence and transmission of zoonotic diseases”, the draft said.
The US, which has frequently criticised China for its handling of the outbreak, has said it wants to focus on the origins of the virus.
Andrew Bremberg, its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, hoped the US would be able to “join the consensus” and said he hoped Taiwan would be able to attend the WHO’s decision-making body despite opposition from China.
“Allowing for some sort of meaningful participation would seem to be the minimum that the WHO could do,” Bremberg added.
The Chinese mission did not respond to a request for comment on the resolution, but its ambassador Chen Xu said earlier this month that there had been an attempt to “smear” and “demonise China’s performance”.
China has also mobilised its diplomats to defend its handling of the outbreak and has also sent medical teams and supplies to other nations.
But its actions have also triggered a backlash and Borrell has accused Beijing of trying to improve its image by “making sure the world knew” about the supplies it has sent to other countries while the EU has been more discreet.
In an article published in several European newspapers on Friday, he also accused China of trying to exploit the differences between EU countries.
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The draft resolution, which is expected to be debated during the assembly’s annual meeting on Monday and Tuesday, calls for “a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” to “review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19”.
This will focus on the effectiveness of the mechanisms at the WHO’s disposal and the functioning of the international health regulations that empower the UN body to declare a global health emergency.
The draft resolution also calls for a review of the WHO’s actions at the start of the pandemic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the former Ethiopian foreign minister who leads the WHO, has been criticised for delaying the announcement of a global health emergency, which critics say helped the virus spread round the global.
No African country, apart from Zambia, supported the call for a review of the WHO’s actions.
The draft resolution also calls for recommendations on how to improve the preparations and response to a global pandemic and says all countries must have “unhindered timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable” diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines.
Last week, French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi was criticised for promising the US government the “right to the largest pre-order” of any vaccine it developed because Washington had invested in its research.
The company’s chief executive Paul Hudson, later reversed the pledge after being criticised by France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who said access for all was “non-negotiable”.
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Meanwhile Oxford University researchers said that if an experimental vaccine they are working on proves successful, its pricing will allow the widest possible access.
Adrian Hill, director of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, which is working with the drug maker AstraZeneca, said that up to a million doses will be ready by September, even more trials conclude.
The project has at least seven manufacturing sites around the world, including India’s Serum Institute as well as sites in Europe and China.
